According to forecasts, this season's garlic production will decrease by 15%; however, the quality of the Spring garlic variety is quite good, stated Julio Bacete, sector manager at Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de Castilla-La Mancha.
“We managed the cultivation with irrigation in most cases and had no rain-fed crops. The producers who don't have irrigation systems had a very rough time. The early garlic is expected to have good quality and, even though the harvest of the purple variety is about a month and a half away, it seems that it will also have good quality.”
The estimated drop in the area is due to the fact that "fewer hectares were sown and there was also less germination, especially in the purple variety, because of the heat wave that affected the crops.” However, he added, it is also due to the paralysis of the markets and the prices which continue to be low. “Sales are not as good as we expected. In part, this is due to the entry of fresh garlic into the markets as if it were frozen garlic, a fraud that the National Garlic Table has already denounced and that hurts us because it is unfair competition to our own product,” he stated.
In addition, consumption in general is decreasing. “Food is expensive and this dampens the consumer's purchasing power. In the case of garlic, it is a product that is affected by any alteration. We are all obliged to stimulate the consumption of garlic, which is a good product that gives flavor to the dishes.”
Garlic prices have not increased. “It's just a little bit more expensive, but not much. It's not the increase producers need. We need a bigger price stimulus." Producers are planting less because the product isn't very profitable for them, he added.
According to Bacete, producing one kilo of purple garlic costs between 1.10 and 1.20 euro, and producing a kilo of early garlic around one euro. That's what we end up charging for our product and it's just not profitable for the sector, he stated.
Source: eldiario.es